Religious Beliefs

[AvatarIII]

By praying and asking God directly and by looking at each situation and "listening to your heart", so to speak. Acts of God would have good consequences, acts of Satan would be negative and harmful. Sometimes it is very hard to see the outcomes of one particular situation though, so that's why it's not always clear. That's why so many people are led astray and misguided, even when they think they're doing what's right. Really, the only way there is to know sometimes is to ask God. And He can be quiet sometimes... while Satan is yelling in your ear. One just has to pray for guidance and wisdom and trust God to lead them in the right direction.

my point was more like "if god is speaking to you in one ear, and the devil in another, and each sounds identical, since apparently imitation and deception are the devil's forté, how can you possibly know which is god and which is the devil?"
it might be a case that the devil sounds more like what you expect god to sound like than god ctually does, in which case those that follow god are in fact following the devil.

sometimes i think, that if there really is a god, i think he would respect non-believers that do good for the sake of doing good, more than believers that do good for the sake of god, and that it is perhaps the devil, who perhaps created religion as we see it today through maniplulating people.

[Coco Pops]

sometimes i think, that if there really is a god, i think he would respect non-believers that do good for the sake of doing good, more than believers that do good for the sake of god, and that it is perhaps the devil, who perhaps created religion as we see it today through maniplulating people.

To me that sounds actually a lot more plausible then the Bible

[AvatarIII]

To me that sounds actually a lot more plausible then the Bible

i've always thought so too, and being raised a christian, and then rejecting christianity, i'd still rather do what i consider to be good, than what a book tells me to do, it defeats the object of free will if you do not get to choose what you consider to be right and wrong, and being told what to do, and not having a choice fits the MO of lucifer pretty well

[dalene]

if that is so, how can you possibly know what or what not to believe.

lol, that's probably why do many people all believe so many different things, even within the same religion, no?

essentially, i think it (whatever it is - anything i hear my pastor say for example) has to be in alignment with God's word in the Bible - then I believe it. of course, polygamists try to use this argument - bc people in the OT had multiple wives, but they were going against what God wanted when they did that. it(the Bible) has to be read with God's heart in mind, not just "oh this happened so it must be ok" - that's dumb & completely ridiculous.

that's why I don't like man-made religious rules. for example, the idea that if a person isn't baptized, then they're going to he!! - that's no where in the Bible so I don't believe it. Jesus said all you need to be saved is to admit you need His grace, bc you've made mistakes/sins & then receive it(His grace). other people just made that up that baptism rule afterward - baptism is just an outward sign that you've made a choice. also, I don't say the "hail mary", bc that's praying to someone other than God & He said to not set up/create any other idols, or pray to anyone other than Him & this would include humans who have been faithful. humans deserve honor & respect - all of us do for that matter, but i'm not about to start praying to any who have died.

I get p!ssed off at temples/churches/people that twist the words of God. people do it all the time & then it makes us (Christians) all look bad. Christians are not supposed to go around judging people - that's God's job for whenever He feels like doing it. we're just supposed to be compassionate & tell people about Him. we're supposed to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, take care of the widows & orphans, & those who are hurting too. too many churches are not doing this - things need to change.

& just bc someone in a temple/church may have hurt you once, it doesn't make all other temples/churches bad. similar to just bc 1 boyfriend/girlfriend broke your heart, doesn't mean that another woman/man will. it was just that one. we cannot harden our hearts to the point that we disallow others to love us.

ok, that's all.

[dalene]

A lot of people won't agree with me...but when I look at the universe, Nebula, colorful worlds, stars, the vastness of the cosmos itself and the much smaller, but just as interesting biological universe within us and all things I see amazing creations of God. I see the beautiful complexities and flow of galaxies and all the rest that were touched by God. And the wonders of Science that allow us to further know that creator.

That's just me though.

I totally agree with you.

[dalene]

hm...since we're sharing beliefs. I wanted to throw one last thing in that I believe.

No one can prove God to anyone else. It's self evident. It's like me trying to prove I love my wife to other people. Sure, I can tell people how much I love her, but those are just empty words to other people...they don't know if it's true. They can't feel it, they can try to understand...but love is personal.

And to those christians out in the world that try to shove their beliefs down other peoples throats over and over...they are not even following their own beliefs. Jesus teaches us that we are to spread God's word...BUT we can only share it, if they reject it,then move on...it's up to THEM to decide. Not Christians. Anyone who force feeds Christianity is infact not only hurting God, but going against the very beliefs they claim to stand for.

SHEESH!! sorry...don't mean to ramble.

I agree too!

[dalene]

i've always thought so too, and being raised a christian, and then rejecting christianity, i'd still rather do what i consider to be good, than what a book tells me to do, it defeats the object of free will if you do not get to choose what you consider to be right and wrong, and being told what to do, and not having a choice fits the MO of lucifer pretty well

but don't you see? you have made your choice. you've been presented with the word & you've had the free will to decide, & you've chosen not to follow.

you do get to choose what you consider to be right & wrong. sometimes you're right & sometimes you're wrong.

[~Dave]

i've always thought so too, and being raised a christian, and then rejecting christianity, i'd still rather do what i consider to be good, than what a book tells me to do, it defeats the object of free will if you do not get to choose what you consider to be right and wrong, and being told what to do, and not having a choice fits the MO of lucifer pretty well

I'm still considering this whole good/bad thing. You say you were raised a Christian. So given that, now that you have rejected Christianity, what would you use for a moral compass if you had never been introduced to religion? Having the so-called Word, and rejecting it is free will. But never having it (or perverting it), is.....what?

~Dave

[AvatarIII]

but don't you see? you have made your choice. you've been presented with the word & you've had the free will to decide, & you've chosen not to follow.

you do get to choose what you consider to be right & wrong. sometimes you're right & sometimes you're wrong.

yes i do see, i exercised my free will and decided to do as i please. i just think that if there is a god, he really has no reason to punish me, since i don't ever do anything even remotely evil. and if there isn't a god, i have nothing to fear anyway.

you also said that you follow the word of god, which is the bible... but how can you or anyone truely know that the bible is the word of god, and not the word of satan.

[jenks]

I'm still considering this whole good/bad thing. You say you were raised a Christian. So given that, now that you have rejected Christianity, what would you use for a moral compass if you had never been introduced to religion? Having the so-called Word, and rejecting it is free will. But never having it (or perverting it), is.....what?

~Dave

Common sense? The Bible is hardly the be all and end all of morality, it teaches men are better than women, two wrongs makes a right, and suicide it worse than murder. You need a conscience, empathy and the smallest amount of philosophical thinking to make your own moral judgements, you don't need an out of date book to do if for you.

[Pandora's_Box]

I'm still considering this whole good/bad thing. You say you were raised a Christian. So given that, now that you have rejected Christianity, what would you use for a moral compass if you had never been introduced to religion? Having the so-called Word, and rejecting it is free will. But never having it (or perverting it), is.....what?

~Dave

Simply the way you are?

[Pandora's_Box]

So interesting bunch of coincidences today.

This morning was the first time I ever ventured into this thread to check it out.

Later I watched the first 10 minutes of The View. Me who never watches The View.

They happened to talk about intelligent design vs. evolution which evolved into a talk about God which led to Whoopi Goldberg making a some truly great comments about God and faith, and saying this...

"What is The Big Bang, but a clap from God."

Now I'm not necessarily a believer in God, at least not the way he's preached by many people. If I believe in anything that God may have done, it's that He gave us free will. So her comments about a relatively laissez-faire type God who created everything and is essentially leaving us alone to hang out and discover it all for ourselves really hit home with me. I definitely like that idea more than I like the "God has a plan" stuff.

[~Dave]

Simply the way you are?

Many people simply are evil. Maybe they were never introduced to the concept of of the Golden Rule. So they never had a free choice to exercise?

Then there are others who think good is whatever gets them what they want. I think many in government fall into this category. LOL!

Then others think that good is killing everyone else who does not accept their loving faith as the absolute law. There-by wiping out "evil".

So many different ideas of what constitutes "good" with no absolute basis to build from.

~Dave

[AvatarIII]

Common sense? The Bible is hardly the be all and end all of morality, it teaches men are better than women, two wrongs makes a right, and suicide it worse than murder. You need a conscience, empathy and the smallest amount of philosophical thinking to make your own moral judgements, you don't need an out of date book to do if for you.

Simply the way you are?

hear hear!

true i was raised a christian, and true perhaps some of my moral values are based in christianity, but most modern christian values are based in common sense, and general human morality than in what the bible especially the OT says.

imho, the teachings of jesus, love thy neighbour, etc. do not require being part of the christain religion to respect, they are good ideas. what is wrong with teaching those ideas without the framework of faith in supernatural deities

[Pandora's_Box]

Many people simply are evil. Maybe they were never introduced to the concept of of the Golden Rule. So they never had a free choice to exercise?

Then there are others who think good is whatever gets them what they want. I think many in government fall into this category. LOL!

Then others think that good is killing everyone else who does not accept their loving faith as the absolute law. There-by wiping out "evil".

So many different ideas of what constitutes "good" with no absolute basis to build from.

~Dave

Other than the one you make for yourself. You may not agree with it, but that's why we all have free will.

I hope you;re no suggesting that believing in God and following the Word of the Bible is the path to "goodness" because a lot of what you define as evil is what people have done in the name of God and by following the Bible.

Which goes to show you that good and evil are not determined by what you read, but by how you interpret it. Ergo, free will.